The Odyssey has now been confirmed as the biggest film of all time at the BFI IMAX, taking the top spot from Avatar in 2009.
The film has been selling out the venue for months in advance, along with other similar IMAX venues, since it was first released, with fans desperate to see the film as it was intended. For those who don’t know, The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan, is the first feature film shot entirely with IMAX film cameras, meaning that to get the true experience you have to attend in one of the limited big-screen venues across the world.
According to the BFI, they’ve sold more than 101,000 admissions for the film so far, which has generated £2,683,987 in ticket sales from the single screen. It’s also achieved a 95% occupancy rate across all showtimes currently on sale, making it the cinema’s highest-grossing film ever. Interestingly, five of the top ten highest-grossing films at the venue are now Christopher Nolan films. They are The Odyssey, Oppenheimer, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Dunkirk and Interstellar. The others filling out the top ten are Avatar, The Force Awakens, Dune: Part Two and Avatar: Way of Water.
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BFI IMAX Programme Manager Madeleine Mullett commented: “As the only cinema in the UK to hold a complete archive of Christopher Nolan’s IMAX 70mm filmography, now including The Odyssey, we are proud to be the home of Christopher Nolan on film. Across the BFI, our commitment to preserving and celebrating celluloid, alongside the filmmakers who continue to champion this format, speaks to the enduring power of storytelling and the unique communal experience of seeing film on film. The extraordinary demand for our IMAX 70mm presentation of The Odyssey, experienced as intended by the filmmakers, is ultimate proof of the appetite audiences have for cinema at its most authentic.”
BFI IMAX remains the number one IMAX venue in both the UK and international markets for the film, whilst also being the second-highest-grossing IMAX screen globally, behind the TCL Chinese Theatre, Los Angeles, which has nearly double the capacity.
